The Qikiqtaaluk Region, Qikiqtani Region (Inuktitut:
ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ pronounced [qikiqtaːˈluk]) or Baffin Region
is the easternmost[1] administrative region of Nunavut, Canada.
Qikiqtaaluk is the traditional
InuktitutInuktitut name for Baffin Island.
Although the
Qikiqtaaluk RegionQikiqtaaluk Region is the most commonly used name in
official contexts, several notable public organisations, including
Statistics Canada[2] prefer the older term Baffin Region.
With a population of 18,988 and an area of 989,879.35 km2
(382,194.55 sq mi) it is the largest and most populated of
the three regions.[2]
The region consists of Baffin Island, the Belcher Islands, Akimiski
Island, Mansel Island, Prince Charles Island, Bylot Island, Devon
Island, Cornwallis Island, Bathurst Island, Amund Ringnes Island,
Ellef Ringnes Island, Axel Heiberg Island, Ellesmere Island, the
Melville Peninsula, the eastern part of Melville Island, and the
northern parts of Prince of Wales Island, and Somerset Island, plus
smaller islands in between. The regional seat, and territorial
capital, is
IqaluitIqaluit (population 7,740.[3]). The Qikiqtaaluk Region
spans the northernmost, easternmost, and southernmost areas of
Nunavut.
Before 1999, the
Qikiqtaaluk RegionQikiqtaaluk Region existed under slightly different
boundaries as the Baffin Region, District of Keewatin, Northwest
Territories.
CanadaCanada claims
Hans IslandHans Island as part of Qikiqtaaluk, while Denmark
considers it to be part of the Greenlandic municipality of Avannaata.

IqaluitIqaluit has the Astro Hill Complex, the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum
and the Legislative Building of
NunavutNunavut and the Unikkaarvik Visitors
Centre.
Pre-contact[edit]
According to anthropologists and historians, the
InuitInuit are the
descendants of the
Thule peopleThule people who displaced the
Dorset cultureDorset culture (in
Inuktitut, the Tuniit).[17][18] By 1300 the
InuitInuit had trade routes
with more southern cultures.[19]
History[edit]
About 1910 Europeans markets increased their interest in white fox
pelts. The distribution and mobility of
InuitInuit changed as the expanded
their traditional hunting and fishing routes to participate in the
white fox fur trade. Traditional food staples—such as seal and
caribou—were not always found in the same regions as white fox.[1]
The Hudson's Bay Company—which was chartered in 1670—had been
opening fur trading posts throughout
InuitInuit and First Nations
territory. By 1910, the HBC was restructured into a lands sales
department, retail and fur trade. The HBC dominated the fur trade
under minimal supervision from the Canadian government, and some
Anglican and Catholic missionaries who lived near remote northern
hamlets. By 1922 most of imported goods acquired by
InuitInuit were from
the HBC.[1]
Relocation[edit]
Between 1950 and 1975 thirteen northern communities were relocated.[1]
Killing of the sled dogs[edit]
In the 1950s and 1960s the
Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceRoyal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and
others in authority undertook "the widespread killing of sled
dogs".[1]
Reconciliation and truth commissions[edit]
The Qikigtani Truth Commission—which was commissioned, conducted,
and paid for by an Aboriginal organization, the Qikiqtani Inuit
Association and took place from 2007 to 2010—brought together
historians and
InuitInuit to revisit the history of the Qikigtaaluk
Region.[1]
Protected areas[edit]